1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices and accessories for the play of the game of golf especially as it utilizes golf ball tees. The present invention relates more specifically to a golf ball tee dispenser designed to contain and individually dispense golf tees to the golfer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Among the three or four essential items utilized in the play of the game of golf are golf clubs, golf balls, and golf ball tees. Beyond these items and a golf course on which play may occur, little more is needed. Typically, a golfer has a single set of clubs that are easily retained in a golf bag and/or are carried by the golfer. Typically one or a few golf balls are utilized in the play of the game and are not carried but rather remain on the course during play. Generally the goal of the play of golf is to utilize but one golf ball and to maintain its whereabouts on the course of play.
Golf tees on the other hand are more disposable items and in a single 18 hole round of golf a player might go through as many as one per hole of play. It is frequently necessary, therefore, to have a large supply of golf ball tees available to the golfer during a round of golf.
Unfortunately the configuration of golf tees is such that they are difficult to store in a manner that provides, ready availability and individual dispensing. Golf tees by their nature are pointed on one end for insertion into the ground and, therefore, do not lend themselves to be easily and comfortably stored on the golfer's person. Nonetheless, golf tees are frequently retained in the golfer's pocket, placed in special loops in the golfer's cap, or at times placed in similar loops attached to other golfing implements such as golf carts, golf bags, golf shoes, etc. Some means for dispensing golf ball tees that would make them readily available to the golfer as they are needed but would not otherwise be in the way during golf play, is desirable.
A number of golf tee dispensers have been developed in the past and many provide an efficient means for dispensing single golf tees to the golfer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,784 issued to Moody entitled "Golf Tee Dispenser" describes a number of prior art configurations for golf tee dispensers and distinguishes its own invention from the prior art by way of the means for retaining individual golf tees. There are also a number of more complex golf tee dispensers that have been disclosed including U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,800,981 issued to Zeller, 3,252,615 issued to Hill et al., 3,840,149 issued to Zeller, 3,984,029 issued to Baugh, 4,573,610 issued to Hurner, and 4,781,307 issued to Ferro. Of the above issued U.S. Pat. Nos., Baugh '029 and Ferro '307 incorporate golf tee dispensing devices in conjunction with golf ball dispensing devices. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,634 issued to Bromley et al. entitled "Golf Tee Magazine" discloses a means for retaining and dispensing golf tees that can be incorporated into a golf bag.
Most of the devices described in these prior patents utilize a dispensing means that relies upon the gravity feed of the golf tee in a downward direction either within a magazine or cartridge tube structure, and the semi-stable retention of the bottom tee in the tube at the opening of the tube by way of some type of moveable obstruction.
The movable obstruction holding the golf tee to be dispensed in many cases has simply been a flexible band or a flexible cap with an aperture that may be temporarily stretched or deformed to remove a single tee, but which thereafter retains a closed shape blocking the next tee from falling through the tube. A few designs, such as Bromley, incorporate spring loaded magazines that allow the tees to be dispensed upward and to thereby allow the device to be mounted within a golf club bag in a manner that still allows access to the dispensing tees. This orientation, however, does require the use of a spring within the magazine that forces the golf tees upward against the force of gravity. This arrangement, however, also requires some mechanism for maintaining the first golf tee available to be dispensed and preventing subsequent golf tees from immediately following thereafter. The Bromley patent described above utilizes a flexible array of brushes whose friction and resilient force are sufficient to retain a golf tee against the force of the spring. Unfortunately, this means that the golf tee must protrude significantly from the dispensing device and is further subject in changes to the force of the spring as a result of more or less tees having been dispensed from the container. In other words, the force of the spring when but one or two tees remain in the container is less than the force when the magazine is full. The ability of the retention device in the Bromley patent to adapt to these changes in spring force is limited.
Simply put, most of the prior art discloses golf tee dispensing devices that, though they retain and provide access to a number of golf tees in sequence, have significant problems with the mechanism for allowing a single golf tee to be dispensed at a time. Improvements in the field, therefore, would be best directed towards a more efficient, more reliable means for sequentially allowing a single tee to be dispensed to the golfer. The apparatus of the present invention seeks to provide such an improvement over the prior art in a golf tee dispensing device.